Hi. Hi. Hi. How are you there? Hi. Hey, Nora.

I'm Nora McInerney, and this is thanks for asking, a call-in show about what matters to you.

Last year, my friend Amanda invited me to an event in Burbank, California, for her birthday.

Amanda lives in L.A. I live in Phoenix. I love any excuse to go to L.A., so I said yes. And I'm sure that she told me what the event was, but in my memory, she just sent me the link. I clicked it. I bought the ticket.

I didn't think too deeply about it. Now, Phoenix is not far from L.A. so I can always find a reason

to be there for fun and then tack some work on and that is what I did.

These trips are usually a mix of both. So I had some meetings. I stayed at my friend Caroline's house.

She had just moved to Altadena. At the time, this is like January 2024. And then on Friday night,

I went to the Marriott Hotel by the Burbank Airport, and I walked

into a Zena Warrior Princess convention. And I thought to myself, you know, Amanda must really be

a big fan of a 1990s action fantasy show starring Lucy Lawless. And tonight, I too will be a fan of a

1990s action fantasy show starring Lucy Lawless because that's friendship. You get into what

your friends are getting into. I was in the wrong part of the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel. There's a whole other

section. And once I found that section, I also found out I was very, very, very early. That's unusual for me.

I'm usually running late. But when I'm in L.A., I leave two hours to get anywhere because I'm so paranoid

that I will run into traffic or get lost, usually a combination of the two.

So I'm there. I'm early. Finally, I'm not the only person there. Like, I'm so early, there's not even a sign up for what I'm there for.

Finally, a bunch of other women walk in. We get to talking. I discover that we are there for the same event. I ask them

what it is. And they say that it is a night of light with Laura Lynn Jackson. And I say,

cool, I still don't know what that means. Then, you know, we continue to get to talking.

That's always going to be my recommendation is that you get to talking with a stranger.

And we realize somehow that their cousin is married to my friend Chase who lives in New York.

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